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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Current lamb count: 33. Number of lambs born in the last 24 hours: 3. Total number of mothers: 19. Days into lambing season: 27. Pregnant ewes remaining: 1! (and she may not be pregnant). Number of twins born this morning and still not nursing: 1. Inches of rain we've had in the past week: I lost count around 9. Number of times in the past 24 hours I've (very carefully) waded through the (chilly!) overflowing wet weather creek to reach the sheep and the barn on the other side: I lost count around 9.

Number of raindrops landing on the farm as I type this: probably about 86 million. Number of inches the creek has gone up since this morning: about 6. Number of more times I'll be crossing over today: 0. Number of calls from the UPS guy asking Is your driveway washed out—or do you know?: 1. Number of days until we'll be able to drive over to the barn and off the farm: who knows. Number of dry weather loving little lavender plants (which die if the roots stay too wet) I probably shouldn't have planted out in my kitchen garden yesterday (even though it felt so good doing it): 4.

13 comments:

I love your count on the raindrops!!! All the water puts a spin on farming and gardening. There is going to be a break before our next round and I know you are sooooo ready for some major *sunshine*!!!!

Hi Susan! for some reason I seem to be having trouble leaving you a Comment, but I've been reading everything and love the pictures and you are all definitely in my thoughts (& prayers!) to be safe!! Marta Beast is a hoot! wow! Talk about 'Dirty Dog'!! We have had a ton of rain also (ark anyone?), but we don't have to cross a creek to get to our lambs.

cabighorse (how convenient that your Blogger profile isn't public),Joe and I both wear work gloves on the farm, and some of them are made from leather. We don't make our own gloves - and we don't raise kids, which are baby goats.

To me, these photos are amusing - and the lambs aren't 'poor little critters.'

We raise animals for meat. We work extremely hard doing it (like wading through a swiftly moving, cold creek numerous times in the last two days to take care of them), we spend a lot of money doing it, and we raise our animals in a way that is FAR better than how the vast majority of meat animals are raised in this country.

We produce lean, flavorful, healthy grass fed lamb and beef for ourselves and others. To us, there is no better meat than that which comes from an animal you know enjoyed a happy, healthy, natural, life.

We're very proud of the animals we raise, and when we sit down to a beautiful homegrown meal, or when our customers tell us our lamb is the best they've ever tasted—and that two "I don't eat lamb" people they served it to went home with leftovers—we know that all of our hard work is worth it.

You can read more about my meat eating philosophy in the above linked leg of lamb recipe post.

I gotta ask, do the mama ewes let you near the lambs, or are they super protective? Do the lambs like the cuddles – because if I were you I'd be walking around cuddling a little pink nosed lamb all day!

Thanks for sharing the glimpse into your lifestyle. I think your farm and philosophy are awesome!

Hi Ruth,Thanks for asking about Cary - and thanks to everybody else who has asked about her! (Don't know who Cary is? Meet her in A Tiny Tail for Mother's Day and then catch up with her here)

After nearly losing her during her 2008 pregnancy, I decided not to breed Cary again. When our Katahdin ram Edward tore through 11 strands of barbed wire last fall during breeding season to reach more girls, we thought she had been bred, but thankfully she wasn't.

As much as I would love to have a Cary baby, I just don't want to risk it. :)

Hi Jessica,The mama sheep are pretty protective of their lambs, but they let me near them, no problem. Our stock dog, Lucky Buddy Bear loves to help clean up the new lambs, but only some of the ewes will let him near their babies. ;)

As for cuddling, many of the lambs tend to be skittish, but when the newborns are in the bonding suite with their moms, it's easy to scoop them up and snuggle them. ;) My goal every year is to spend enough time holding the lambs (tough work but somebody's got to do it) so that they're used to me and won't scamper off when I try to catch them (which is what their instincts tell them to do), and it usually works with the first few lambs, but then there are too many to keep up!

And of course any bottle lambs are extremely friendly. You can't keep them off you, LOL. Not that I would hope for bottle lambs just to have somebody to constantly snuggle. . . ;)

Hi Paula Jo,I sure wish I could send you some of the rain we're supposed to get this weekend. Our weather is so crazy - we're often in drought conditions, and then after a day or two of rain they're putting out flash flood warnings. I don't remember the last time we got a foot or more of rain in less than a week, though. At least the sun is shining today and starting to dry things out.

December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!